Friday, January 22, 2010

Best Tablet letter ever.

I differ from many people of views similar to my own in having a subscription to the Bitter Pill, and even deriving some enjoyment from it. This letter really brightened up my day.

So many of the wonderful and Spirit-filled paths that the Church has taken since Vatican II are one by one being closed, and the tragedy is that the feelings, needs and thoughts of most of us seem to count for nothing. It will be gone soon and so much of the good will be undone, but I am glad I lived and exercised my ministry in the hopeful, forward-looking and renewed Church that followed the Council. At least we were able to catch a glimpse of what Church really meant before the remoteness, hardness and lack of human warmth returned.

(Fr) Paul JenningsFarnham, Surrey

It is not, of course, that I want to see the Holy Spirit depart from the Church and all the rest of it, but we can all recognise the code-words in this letter. The 'spirit-filled paths' of Vatican II: that'll be polyester vestments in rainbow colours. The 'feelings, needs and thoughts of most of us' will be the liberal cabal which has wielded power ruthlessly for forty years, to ridicule and trample the beliefs and devotions of ordinary Catholics. The 'hopeful, forward-looking and renewed Church' is the one which emptied the seminaries, wrecked or closed our most beautiful churches, and collaborated with the culture of death. The 'remoteness, hardness and lack of human warmth' will be coming from the persecuted minority of conservative priests who wish to give their flocks something more substantial than a reheated Guardian editorial for their spiritual nourishment - yep, these priests are gaining in numbers and influence.

I am so happy to be living in a time when the 'good' done since the Council, as conceived by the average Tablet reader, is being 'undone'. Having 'glimpsed' 'what Church really meant' it is with profound thanksgiving we are saying goodbye to it.

2 comments:

<span>When journalists asked the then Cardinal Ratzinger if the Holy Ghost is <span>always</span> present at the Conclave, he replied, “No, but He comes later to clean up the mess.”</span> Perhaps this is what is happening now?

<span>"the hopeful, forward-looking and<span> renewed Church that followed the Council" - that would be the church which emptied the pews, decimated vocations and generally reduced the Mass to an anaemic pseudo-protestant travesty, would it?</span></span><span><span></span></span><span><span>Mr Shaw - I could not agree more with your final paragraph!</span></span>

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